‘BRT scrapped as study shows it will overlap with LRT3’
THE move to scrap the Kuala Lumpur-Klang Bus Rapid Transit project was done because it overlapped with the LRT3 project.
Minister in Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Seri Nancy Shukri told the Dewan Rakyat that the overlap was discovered after the government carried out a study on public transport in the Greater Kuala Lumpur and Klang Valley regions.
“Both projects cannot be constructed at the same time,” she said, adding that proposed LRT3 project covered Bandar Utama to Johan Setia in Klang, via Glenmarie, Shah Alam, and Klang town. The project serves 50 per cent of the residents from Klang and Subang that would have been covered by BRT.
“The others have access to existing urban and rail networks like the Kelana Jaya LRT Line and KTM Komuter. LRT3 covers areas that have no access to existing urban rail compared with BRT,” she said in reply to Dr Ong Kian Meng (DAP-Serdang).
Nancy said the cancellation of the BRT project did mean that it was not beneficial, rather because the LRT3 project had a greater impact.
She also said that in its studies to determine the development of public transport facilities and modes, the government considered the best investment for the future instead of just weighing costs.
This, she said, included trends that the public favoured which were currently the use of rail networks, as well as population density, and the frequency of trips taken by passengers.
Last week, the government announced the cancellation of the RM2 billion project, which was meant to run parallel to the Federal Highway between Kuala Lumpur and Klang.